Odisha Police destroys record 220 tonnes of seized ganja, 78 kg of brown sugar in 1 year

The Odisha Police has destroyed record 220 tonnes (2, 20,000 Kg) of seized Ganja (marijuana/dry cannabis) and over 78 Kg of brown sugar (Heroin) in various cases in the past one year.

Official sources said that 220 tonnes of ganja were seized in 1434 cases while the brown sugar was seized in 129 cases. The police described the destruction of the seized narcotics as a complex legal and administrative process involving the judiciary, police, forensic science laboratory, pollution, excise, revenue and central Government’s Chief controllers, opium and Alkaloid departments.

It is pertinent to mention here that a massive operation was launched last year following a landmark judgement of Orissa High Court based on a petition filed by the Special Task Force (STF).

The STF had filed the petition seeking a direction to the Sub-ordinate courts and for issuing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for early certification/ authentication of seized narcotics drugs.

The Odisha Police had 1546 quintals of ganja in 2022 and 879 quintals by the end of April 2023. Similarly, 77 kg of brown sugar was seized last year and 11 kg of brown sugar has already been seized in multiple cases by the end of April this year.

Notably, the properties worth over Rs 34 crore of the drug peddlers earned out of sale proceeds of contraband articles have been seized/frozen in 17 cases so far.